A 40-year old man is now in stable condition after he was stung by bees about 300 times this morning in Pflugerville.
The Texas AgriLife Extension Office says they’re seeing higher populations of most types of insects this year – including aphids, cicadas and bees.
“Since we’ve been having more rain this year, there have been more plants available as a food source and the honey bees have an opportunity to collect nectar so there do tend to me more numbers – I’ve been getting more calls on bees than I have in the past few years," Extension Program Specialist Wizzie Brown says.
Keith Huddle owns Keith’s Bee Services – the company called out to remove the Pflugerville hive . He says if you have a hive around your home, you should have it removed – no matter how harmless the bees seem.
“A hive you could mow next to and trim trees next to one week, is not guaranteed to accept that same kind of vibration and noise next week," Huddle says.
Huddle says the problem is that all wild bee populations are somewhat Africanized and that the more aggressive a queen is, the more aggressive the hive will be. Huddle says with the number of hives he's been asked to remove this year, he is surprised no one has been killed.
“Bees are not a joke, they can kill you," Huddle says. "They don’t always fall into the ‘it’s okay’ category. It’s just not that kind of an insect.”
If you have a hive you need removed, Brown and Huddle agree – call an expert.
